During the days leading up to Kalissa's grand finale birthday celebration, we told her she was going to Disneyland. She would act all excited but then when you asked her what Disneyland was, she didn't know. *lol* We told her all of her favorite Disney friends lived there and that made her smile big, but really she had NO IDEA what she was in for. I had actually planned to wait until her 5th birthday before taking her to Disneyland because I wanted her to remember the experience and be able to enjoy all that Disneyland offered. I refused to have to lug around a stroller so I figured 5 would be the perfect age. But, as her 4th birthday neared, I realized it was time so Disneyland here we come! We made the 1.5 hour drive to Anaheim early Saturday morning. My dear friend, Stella, was going to meet us for breakfast because she had a present that she wanted to give to Kalissa. Kali ate maybe two bites of her breakfast, she was so excited! Then Stella gave her her gift....it was a BEAUTIFUL purple princess gown complete with a purple sparkly parasol. Now, I've seen dress up gowns before, but this one stole the cake. Between the lace up corset, train, tulle petticoat, and all the sparkle...I really didn't know if it was a dress up gown or not! Of course Kalissa wanted to put it on right away, but we told her she had to wait until we checked into our hotel and she took a nap. We said our goodbyes to Stella and headed into the park. As soon as we got there, Kali was on sensory overload!
Once we made it through the gates, the first thing we did was get her birthday button. This button identified her as a "special" guest and so literally every worker who saw her button would stop and wish her a very happy day. She was on cloud 9 and was loving every minute of the extra attention she was receiving.
We headed straight to Fantasyland and stopped to ride the Pinocchio's Daring Journey ride....she hated it! And I can't say that I blamed her...it was dark, loud, and very jerky. Plus, she's never watched the movie so it was definitely a dud. She even cried! Oh nooo! We have to turn this trip around and FAST! We tried a couple other rides in Fantasyland and none cut it until we arrived at It's A Small World. OMG! It was a hit and she loved it. So much so, that we rode it twice!
After getting our fill of Fantasyland, we headed over to Toon Town were we met Mickey Mouse and Kalissa even rode her first roller coaster...and loved it!
But the oddest thing happened in Mickey's Clubhouse....it was a bit of a wait to meet Mickey but there were plenty of things for the kids to touch and play with so Kali was off checking out the scene. At one point, I noticed this lady staring at her for no apparent reason. Kali was playing about 6 feet away from me and the woman was maybe 3 feet away from me and I was being my super-observant self and keeping watch over my surroundings. This may be the happiest place on earth but I'm still Momma Bear no matter where we are! Anyway, I'm watching this woman watch (actually STARE) at my baby and then all of a sudden she walked over to her and grabbed a handful of her hair and stretched out her curls! She didn't do it maliciously or anything...in fact Kalissa never even skipped a beat. But before I could say "excuse me", the woman walked back to her place in line like nothing happened. How strange!!! The only thing I could think of is that she'd never seen hair like Kalissa's before and couldn't help herself but to touch it! Mind you, it wasn't just a touch....she grabbed a handful of her hair at the root and then ran her fingers down the length of her strands to stretch out the curls! LOLOLOL!! It fascinated her that much that she would risk an angry black woman running up on her for touching her baby's hair! Of course I didn't do that...but she didn't know I wouldn't! The situation wasn't worth me confronting her, but can you imagine?!? The nerve of people! LOL
By this time, it was time for lunch so we decided to leave the park and check into our hotel. As we were leaving, we couldn't help but notice all the children dressed up in Disney costumes. Sooooo, Kalissa's new gown would be perfect. After a quick, and I do mean quick, nap and bite to eat, we got Kalissa into her big, beautiful ball gown and she looked adorable! She was such a Princess! The gown was a little long but she held it up as she walked, so as not to trip over over it, as if she'd been doing that all her life! Everyone who saw her commented on how beautiful she looked and she was definitely the Bell of the Ball and could've easily fit in with the other Disney Princesses!
Night came quickly and with only having a 30 minute nap, Kalissa was fading fast! We rode a couple more rides before Kalissa's legs gave out and she could/would no longer walk. So we packed it in and called it a night. The next morning we returned to Downtown Disney so that Kalissa could spend her birthday money. After eating ice cream, she set her sights on a Tinkerbell doll and cup and was over the moon!
We had a wonderful trip for Kalissa's first Disney experience! We probably won't return until she's another year older, just because she really couldn't take it all in and ummmm....tickets are not a drop in the bucket for a family of 5 (although Candy didn't join us because she had to work). Even still, she couldn't stop talking about meeting her Disney friends and she had one word for it all: "Magical".
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